There are some concepts that I use very often. Concepts that are common knowledge but had to click with me first and ever since have been incredibly helpful with processing the world around us. This will be WIP and containing only the ones I find most helpful.
- Sunk Costs: do not waste your mental ability on things that you cannot reverse anymore. But do not forget to learn from them.
- Opportunity Cost: Always be aware of what you are giving up in order to pursue something.
- Perfect is the enemy of good: this one took a while to settle in and sometimes you still have to pursue perfection. But it is rarely truly necessary.
- Work on the root causes not the symptoms: this one is tougher to apply to everyday situations but when you have a somewhat larger problem to deal with this is a very helpful reminder. Don’t waste your time on healing the symptoms when there is an underlying root cause to be addressed.
- A priori analysis can only get you so far: eventually you will have to make a decision based on incomplete information and acknowledge the fact that certain information will only become available once you take a step forward.
- Short-term rewards vs. long-term rewards: this one is tricky, because it can be applied to even the smallest subconscious decision like checking instagram. The best decisions are usually those that favor long-term rewards over short-term rewards but they are also tough to make and keep in mind.
- Diminishing returns: after a certain point one should turn the attention to something else, where greater returns lure
